Welcome to Emerald Class!

Greetings and salutations!  Welcome to the Emerald class page!

This year is going to be an exciting journey of growth, learning, and discovery! This year, your child will continue to build on all the skills they have developed so far, while gaining new knowledge and experiences that will help them become even more confident and independent learners. We will be exploring a wide range of subjects, designed to help your child grow academically, socially, and creatively. Every lesson is an opportunity to challenge yourself, ask questions, and embrace new ideas. Let’s make this year one to remember as we work together, support one another, and shine bright like emeralds! 

In addition to myself, we will be joined every morning by Mrs Fernyhough as well as Mrs Tomlinson who will be taking the class on a Monday afternoon.  Our PE lessons for this half term will take place onTuesday and Wednesday.  This half term our dance lessons will be led by a dance specialist who will be teaching the children the dance skills that reklate to the lower KS2 PE curriculum. 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.  Each week Facebook and Instagram will include ifnromation on what the children have been learning so please to ensure to check each week!

As Writers...

Our writting focus will continue to be  The Silence Seeker by Ben Morley with illustrations by Carl Pearce.

When a new family moves in next door, Joe's mum explains that they are asylum seekers. Joe hears that they are silence seekers, especially as Mum adds that they need peace and quiet. When he sees a young boy from the family sitting disconsolately on the steps, Joe decides to help him find a quiet place in the noisy and chaotic city.

This is a simple, moving story which is the perfect way to gently open discussion around the refugee crisis.

During this unit, Year 3 will learn:

• Form nouns with a range of prefixes
• Use present and past tenses correctly and consistently including the progressive and present perfect forms
• Build varied and rich vocabulary
• Use inverted commas to punctuate direct speech (using dialogue to show relationship between characters)

Year 4 will learn:

• Use standard English for verb inflections
• Organise paragraphs around a theme (using fronted adverbials to introduce or connect paragraphs)
• Use present and past tenses correctly and consistently including the progressuve form and the present perfect form
• Use and punctuate direct speech (using dialogue to show relationship between two characters)

As Readers...

This half term in our shared read we will be reading This Morning I Met a Whale by Michael Morpurgo

This Morning I Met a Whale is a short, thought-provoking story about a young boy who encounters a lost and troubled whale in the River Thames.  The whale communicates with the boy, sharing a powerful message about the dangers of pollution and the impact the humans are having on the planet. 

As mathematicians...

This half term we will be focusing on addition & subtraction as well as multiplication & division

Year 3 will learn to:

• measure, compare, add and subtract: lengths (m/cm/mm); mass (kg/g); volume/capacity (l/ml)
• measure the perimeter of simple 2-D shapes
• count up and down in tenths; recognise that tenths arise from dividing an object into 10 equal parts and in dividing one-digit numbers or quantities by 10
• recognise, find and write fractions of a discrete set of objects: unit fractions and non-unit fractions with small denominators
• recognise and use fractions as numbers: unit fractions and non-unit fractions with small denominators
• recognise and show, using diagrams, equivalent fractions with small denominators
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Year 4 will learn to:

• convert between different units of measure [for example, kilometre to metre; hour to minute]
• measure and calculate the perimeter of a rectilinear figure (including squares) in centimetres and metres
• find the area of rectilinear shapes by counting squares
• estimate, compare and calculate different measures
• recognise and show, using diagrams, families of common equivalent fractions
• count up and down in hundredths; recognise that hundredths arise when dividing an object by 100 and dividing tenths by 10
• solve problems involving increasingly harder fractions to calculate quantities, and fractions to divide quantities, including non-unit fractions where the answer is a whole number
• add and subtract fractions with the same denominator
• round decimals with 1 decimal place to the nearest whole number
• compare numbers with the same number of decimal places up to 2 decimal places

As geographers...

This half term, we will be answering the question:

How do the physical features of North America compare to Europe? 

In this geography unit,the children will explore the physical features of North America and Europe. They'll learn about mountains, rivers, forests, and deserts in both continents, comparing their sizes, locations, and climates. They'll look at famous landmarks like the Rocky Mountains in North America and the Alps in Europe, and study how these features affect the environment and human life. By the end of the unit, they'll be able to identify key physical features on maps and explain how these two continents differ and share similar characteristics.

Our study will include opportunities to:

As scientists...

This half term, Year 3 will be focusing on light.  They will learn to:

•  recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light 
• notice that light is reflected from surfaces
• recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes
•  recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object
• find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change.

Year 4 will be focusing on living things and their habitats   They will learn to:

• recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
• explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment
• recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.